Retromer complexes mediate protein trafficking from the endosomes to the trans-Golgi network (TGN) or through direct recycling to the plasma membrane. In yeast, they consist of a conserved trimer of the cargo selective complex (CSC), Vps26–Vps35–Vps29 and a dimer of sorting nexins (SNXs), Vps5–Vps17. In mammals, the CSC interacts with different kinds of SNX proteins in addition to the mammalian homologues of Vps5 and Vps17, which further diversifies retromer functions. The retromer complex plays important roles in many cellular processes including restriction of invading pathogens. In this review, we summarize some recent developments in our understanding of the physiological and pathological functions of the retromer complex. Full article

In recent years, marine cultural tourism, an emerging tourism mode, has become more and more popular among tourists, and demonstrates broad market prospects. However, Chinese marine cultural tourism is still in the development and growth stage, and the level of customer satisfaction is uneven. The improvement of the customer satisfaction level is conducive to meeting customers’ demands in marine cultural tourism and enhancing the competitiveness of Chinese marine cultural tourism. Based on theoretical research and the practical situation of marine cultural tourism, this paper implements empirical investigation and research into customer satisfaction in marine cultural tourism in Shanghai, China. According to the research results, it proposes improving the level of customer satisfaction in Chinese marine cultural tourism from the perspectives of ocean culture tourism promotion, customer satisfaction evaluation, service level management and environment construction of scenic spots, tourism branding and the marine cultural accomplishments of tourists, so as to promote the sustainable development of marine cultural tourism. Full article

The operation of flood retarding areas does not attract much attention, although they are important components of flood control systems. Poor operation of such areas restricts not only the socio-economic development of the flood retarding area, but also limits scientific flood control options. As the second-largest flood retarding area in China, with more than 2000 km² and 300 polders, the Hongze Lake vicinity was taken as a case study of graded flood retarding. A one and two-dimensional coupled hydrodynamic model was established to simulate flood routing in the Hongze Lake area. Fifteen different schemes involving different flood magnitudes and flood retarding operations were simulated. The results show that (1) having a flood retarding area is essential; and (2) the “graded flood retarding” scheme is superior to “no grading flood retarding” scheme; and (3) a “two-grade flood retarding” scheme is recommended. Full article

Additive manufacturing (AM), nowadays commonly known as 3D printing, is a revolutionary materials processing technology, particularly suitable for the production of low-volume parts with high shape complexities and often with multiple functions. As such, it holds great promise for the fabrication of patient-specific implants. In recent years, remarkable progress has been made in implementing AM in the bio-fabrication field. This paper presents an overview on the state-of-the-art AM technology for bone tissue engineering (BTE) scaffolds, with a particular focus on the AM scaffolds made of metallic biomaterials. It starts with a brief description of architecture design strategies to meet the biological and mechanical property requirements of scaffolds. Then, it summarizes the working principles, advantages and limitations of each of AM methods suitable for creating porous structures and manufacturing scaffolds from powdered materials. It elaborates on the finite-element (FE) analysis applied to predict the mechanical behavior of AM scaffolds, as well as the effect of the architectural design of porous structure on its mechanical properties. The review ends up with the authors’ view on the current challenges and further research directions. Full article

In this study, a new method based on immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) combined with ultrafiltration-ultra performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UF-UPLC-MS) was developed for discovering ligands for xanthine oxidase (XO) in Gnaphalium hypoleucum DC., a folk medicine used in China for the treatment of gout. By IMAC, the high flavonoid content of G. hypoleucum could be determined rapidly and efficiently. UF-UPLC-MS was used to select the bound xanthine oxidase ligands in the mixture and identify them. Finally, two flavonoids, luteolin-4′-O-glucoside and luteolin, were successfully screened and identified as the candidate XO inhibitors of G. hypoleucum. They were evaluated in vitro for XO inhibitory activity and their interaction mechanism was studied coupled with molecular simulations. The results were in favor of the hypothesis that the flavonoids of G. hypoleucum might be the active content for gout treatment by inhibiting XO. Full article

This paper addresses the problem of the joint estimation of system state and generalized sensor bias (GSB) under a common unknown input (UI) in the case of bias evolution in a heterogeneous sensor network. First, the equivalent UI-free GSB dynamic model is derived and the local optimal estimates of system state and sensor bias are obtained in each sensor node; Second, based on the state and bias estimates obtained by each node from its neighbors, the UI is estimated via the least-squares method, and then the state estimates are fused via consensus processing; Finally, the multi-sensor bias estimates are further refined based on the consensus estimate of the UI. A numerical example of distributed multi-sensor target tracking is presented to illustrate the proposed filter. Full article

The time lag between anomalies in precipitation and vegetation activity plays a critical role in early drought detection as agricultural droughts are caused by precipitation shortages. The aim of this study is to explore a new approach to estimate the time lag between a forcing (precipitation) and a response (NDVI) signal in the frequency domain by applying cross-spectral analysis. We prepared anomaly time series of image data on TRMM3B42 precipitation (accumulated over antecedent durations of 10, 60, and 150 days) and NDVI, reconstructed and interpolated MOD13A2 and MYD13A2 to daily interval using a Fourier series method to model time series affected by gaps and outliers (iHANTS) for a dry and a wet year in a drought-prone area in the northeast region of China. Then, the cross-spectral analysis was applied pixel-wise and only the phase lag of the annual component of the forcing and response signal was extracted. The 10-day antecedent precipitation was retained as the best representation of forcing. The estimated phase lag was interpreted using maps of land cover and of available soil water-holding capacity and applied to investigate the difference in phenology responses between a wet and dry year. In both the wet and dry year, we measured consistent phase lags across land cover types. In the wet year with above-average precipitation, the phase lag was rather similar for all land cover types, i.e., 7.6 days for closed to open grassland and 14.5 days for open needle-leaved deciduous or evergreen forest. In the dry year, the phase lag increased by 7.0 days on average, but with specific response signals for the different land cover types. Interpreting the phase lag against the soil water-holding capacity, we observed a slightly higher phase lag in the dry year for soils with a higher water-holding capacity. The accuracy of the estimated phase lag was assessed through Monte Carlo simulations and presented reliable estimates for the annual component. Full article

Malignant peritoneal mesothelioma (MPM) is an aggressive rare malignancy associated with asbestos exposure. A better understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of MPM will help develop a targeted therapy strategy. Oncogene targeted depth sequencing was performed on a tumor sample and paired peripheral blood DNA from a patient with malignant mesothelioma of the peritoneum. Four somatic base-substitutions in NOTCH2, NSD1, PDE4DIP, and ATP10B and 1 insert frameshift mutation in BAP1 were validated by the Sanger method at the transcriptional level. A 13-amino acids neo-peptide of the truncated Bap1 protein, which was produced as a result of this novel frameshift mutation, was predicted to be presented by this patient’s HLA-B protein. The polyclonal antibody of the synthesized 13-mer neo-peptide was produced in rabbits. Western blotting results showed a good antibody-neoantigen specificity, and Immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining with the antibody of the neo-peptide clearly differentiated neoplastic cells from normal cells. A search of the Catalogue of Somatic Mutations in Cancer (COSMIC) database also revealed that 53.2% of mutations in BAP1 were frameshift indels with neo-peptide formation. An identified tumor-specific neo-antigen could be the potential molecular biomarker for personalized diagnosis to precisely subtype rare malignancies such as MPM. Full article

Rhizoma Atractylodes macrocephala polysaccharides (RAMP) have been reported to have a variety of important biological activities. In this study, an ultrasonic-assisted enzymatic extraction (UAEE) was employed to obtain the highest extraction yield and strongest antioxidant activity of RAMP and optimized by a multi-response optimization process. A three-level four-factor Box-Behnken design (BBD) was performed as response surface methodology (RSM) with desirability function (DF) to attain the optimal extraction parameters. The DPPH scavenging percentage was used to represent the antioxidant ability of RAMP. The maximum D value (0.328), along with the maximum yield (59.92%) and DPPH scavenging percentage (13.28%) were achieved at 90.54 min, 57.99 °C, 1.95% cellulase and 225.29 W. These values were further validated and found to be in good agreement with the predicted values. Compared to the other extraction methods, both the yield and scavenging percentage of RAMP obtained by UAEE was favorable and the method appeared to be time-saving and of high efficiency. These results demostrated that UAEE is an appropriate and effective extraction technique. Moreover, RSM with DF approach has been proved to be adequate for the design and optimization of the extraction parameters for RAMP. This work has a wide range of implications for the design and operation of polysaccharide extraction processes. Full article

Agricultural heritage sites have been gaining popularity as tourism destinations. The arrival of large numbers of tourists, however, has created serious challenges to these vulnerable ecosystems. In particular, water resources are facing tremendous pressure. Thus, an assessment of tourism water footprint is suggested before promoting sustainable tourism. This paper uses the bottom-up approach to construct a framework on the tourism water footprint of agricultural heritage sites. The tourism water footprint consists of four components, namely accommodation water footprint, diet water footprint, transportation water footprint and sewage dilution water footprint. Yuanyang County, a representative of the Honghe Hani rice terraces, was selected as the study area. Field surveys including questionnaires, interviews and participant observation approaches were undertaken to study the tourism water footprint and water capacity of the heritage site. Based on the results, measures to improve the tourism water capacity have been put forward, which should provide references for making policies that aim to maintain a sustainable water system and promote tourism development without hampering the sustainability of the heritage system. The sewage dilution water footprint and the diet water footprint were top contributors to the tourism water footprint of the subject area, taking up 38.33% and 36.15% of the tourism water footprint, respectively, followed by the transportation water footprint (21.47%). The accommodation water footprint had the smallest proportion (4.05%). The tourism water capacity of the heritage site was 14,500 tourists per day. The water pressure index was 97%, indicating that the water footprint was still within the water capacity, but there is a danger that the water footprint may soon exceed the water capacity. As a consequence, we suggest that macro and micro approaches, including appropriate technologies, awareness enhancement and diversified tourism product development throughout the whole year that can alleviate the water pressure at critical times, could be taken to optimize the water management of the heritage sites. Full article

Recently, a wide range of quantitative research on the identification of environmental flow requirements (EFRs) has been conducted. However, little focus is given to EFRs to maintain multiple ecosystem services in oasis areas. The present study quantifies the EFRs in oasis areas of Tarim Basin, Xinjiang, Northwest China on the basis of three ecosystem services: (1) maintenance of riverine ecosystem health, (2) assurance of the stability of oasis–desert ecotone and riparian (Tugai) forests, and (3) restoration of oasis–desert ecotone groundwater. The identified consumptive and non-consumptive water requirements are used to quantify and determine the EFRs in Qira oasis by employing the summation and compatibility rules (maximum principle). Results indicate that the annual maximum, medium, and minimum EFRs are 0.752 × 10⁸, 0.619 × 10⁸, and 0.516 × 10⁸ m³, respectively, which account for 58.75%, 48.36%, and 40.29% of the natural river runoff. The months between April and October are identified as the most important periods to maintain the EFRs. Moreover, the water requirement for groundwater restoration of the oasis–desert ecotone accounts for a large proportion, representing 48.27%, 42.32%, and 37.03% of the total EFRs at maximum, medium, and minimum levels, respectively. Therefore, to allocate the integrated EFRs, focus should be placed on the water demand of the desert vegetation’s groundwater restoration, which is crucial for maintaining desert vegetation to prevent sandstorms and soil erosion. This work provides a reference to quantify the EFRs of oasis areas in arid regions. Full article

The optimization and kinetics of the ring-opening reaction of an epoxidized biodiesel (epoxidized rapeseed oil methyl ester) (EBD) with 2-ethyl hexanol (2-EH) were studied. The determined optimum conditions were 4:1 2-EH/oil molar ratio, 90 °C, 18 h, and 7 wt % of Amberlyst D001 (dry) catalyst; the product’s oxirane oxygen content was 0.081% with 38.32 mm²/s viscosity at 40 °C. The catalyst retained its high catalytic power after recycling five times. Furthermore, the determined non-catalyzed activation energy was 76 kJ·mol⁻¹ and 54 kJ·mol⁻¹ with the D001 resin catalyst. The product’s chemical structure was investigated through FT-IR and ¹H NMR. The viscosity, flash point, pour point, and anti-wear properties of the product were improved compared with those of epoxidized biodiesel. Full article

With the demand for turbomachinery to operate at higher speeds, loads, and power, fluid film bearings that support turbomachinery must be capable of operating in these more demanding applications. Thrust bearings operating at high speeds and loads can experience high surface temperatures and thin fluid film thickness. Typically, babbitt (white metal) is the bearing lining material for most turbomachinery bearings but is limited in operating temperature and allowable film thickness. Polymer based materials are alternative materials that can operate at high temperatures and with thin films and have been in use for many decades in high load applications, such as electric submersible pumps (ESP). Test results of polymer lined thrust bearings subjected to modern turbomachinery speeds and loads are presented and compared to babbitt lined bearings of the same design and under similar conditions. The test results show polymer lined thrust bearings can operate at higher bearing unit loads than babbitt. Full article

Oryza meyeriana is highly resistant to rice bacterial blight (BB) and this resistance trait has been transferred to cultivated rice (O. sativa) using asymmetric somatic hybridization. However, no resistance genes have yet been cloned. In the present study, a progeny of the somatic hybridization with high BB resistance was crossed with a rice cultivar with high BB susceptibility to develop an F₂ population. Using bulked segregant analysis (BSA), 17 polymorphic markers that were linked to rice BB resistance were obtained through scanning a total of 186 simple sequence repeats (SSR) and sequence-tagged site (STS) markers, evenly distributed on 12 chromosomes. A genetic linkage map was then constructed based on the 17 linkage markers and the F₂ segregating population, which was followed by mapping for quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for BB resistance. Three QTLs were identified on chromosomes 1, 3 and 5, respectively, and the alleles of the resistant parent at any of the QTLs increased BB resistance. All of the three QTLs had a strong effect on resistance, explaining about 21.5%, 12.3% and 39.2% of the resistance variance, respectively. These QTLs were different from the loci of the BB resistance genes that have been identified in previous studies. The QTLs mapped in this work will facilitate the isolation of novel BB resistance genes and their utilization in rice resistance breeding. Full article

Bone tissue engineering has been increasingly studied as an alternative approach to bone defect reconstruction. In this approach, new bone cells are stimulated to grow and heal the defect with the aid of a scaffold that serves as a medium for bone cell formation and growth. Scaffolds made of metallic materials have preferably been chosen for bone tissue engineering applications where load-bearing capacities are required, considering the superior mechanical properties possessed by this type of materials to those of polymeric and ceramic materials. The space holder method has been recognized as one of the viable methods for the fabrication of metallic biomedical scaffolds. In this method, temporary powder particles, namely space holder, are devised as a pore former for scaffolds. In general, the whole scaffold fabrication process with the space holder method can be divided into four main steps: (i) mixing of metal matrix powder and space-holding particles; (ii) compaction of granular materials; (iii) removal of space-holding particles; (iv) sintering of porous scaffold preform. In this review, detailed procedures in each of these steps are presented. Technical challenges encountered during scaffold fabrication with this specific method are addressed. In conclusion, strategies are yet to be developed to address problematic issues raised, such as powder segregation, pore inhomogeneity, distortion of pore sizes and shape, uncontrolled shrinkage and contamination. Full article

As the use of camera networks has expanded, camera placement to satisfy some quality assurance parameters (such as a good coverage ratio, an acceptable resolution constraints, an acceptable cost as low as possible, etc.) has become an important problem. The discrete camera deployment problem is NP-hard and many heuristic methods have been proposed to solve it, most of which make very simple assumptions. In this paper, we propose a probability inspired binary Particle Swarm Optimization (PI-BPSO) algorithm to solve a homogeneous camera network placement problem. We model the problem under some more realistic assumptions: (1) deploy the cameras in the 3D space while the surveillance area is restricted to a 2D ground plane; (2) deploy the minimal number of cameras to get a maximum visual coverage under more constraints, such as field of view (FOV) of the cameras and the minimum resolution constraints. We can simultaneously optimize the number and the configuration of the cameras through the introduction of a regulation item in the cost function. The simulation results showed the effectiveness of the proposed PI-BPSO algorithm. Full article

The purpose of this study was to reveal the energy use and indoor environment characteristics of twelve households located in six cities in China, including daily use of gas and electricity, temperature and humidity throughout a year. The energy uses for district heating and hot water were not included. The investigated houses were separated into two groups, namely Group 1 with domestic heating, and Group 2 with district heating. The analysis showed that the energy use of Lighting and Audio visual & information for each house is not very different during the four seasons. Annual energy use varied from 13.3 to 32.4 GJ in Group 1. The energy use of House 05 was 32.4 GJ/year, which is the highest in Group 1, the space heating reached 18.5 GJ/year, accounting for 57% of the total. Energy use of House 01 increased in winter and summer, which is attributed to the use of heating in winter and cooling in summer, respectively. Annual energy use varied from 2.9 to 17.0 GJ in Group 2. Almost no change of energy use was found for the houses in Group 2 during the four seasons, but a big difference of average indoor temperature was found in the coldest days between the houses in Group 1 (around 10 °C) and Group 2 (around 20 °C), while the difference was small in summer. Full article

Cellular biochemical parameters can be used to reveal the physiological and functional information of various cells. Due to demonstrated high accuracy and non-invasiveness, electrochemical detection methods have been used for cell-based investigation. When combined with improved biosensor design and advanced measurement systems, the on-line biochemical analysis of living cells in vitro has been applied for biological mechanism study, drug screening and even environmental monitoring. In recent decades, new types of miniaturized electrochemical biosensor are emerging with the development of microfabrication technology. This review aims to give an overview of the microfabricated electrochemical cell-based biosensors, such as microelectrode arrays (MEA), the electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS) technique, and the light addressable potentiometric sensor (LAPS). The details in their working principles, measurement systems, and applications in cell monitoring are covered. Driven by the need for high throughput and multi-parameter detection proposed by biomedicine, the development trends of electrochemical cell-based biosensors are also introduced, including newly developed integrated biosensors, and the application of nanotechnology and microfluidic technology. Full article

This paper proposes a new distributed Kalman filtering fusion with random state transition and measurement matrices, i.e., random parameter matrices Kalman filtering. It is proved that under a mild condition the fused state estimate is equivalent to the centralized Kalman filtering using all sensor measurements; therefore, it achieves the best performance. More importantly, this result can be applied to Kalman filtering with uncertain observations including the measurement with a false alarm probability as a special case, as well as, randomly variant dynamic systems with multiple models. Numerical examples are given which support our analysis and show significant performance loss of ignoring the randomness of the parameter matrices. Full article